"He is faster, faster. Faster than light..."
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NEWS RELEASE
FOR THE JAMAICA CHESS FEDERATION
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 22, 2002

Mark 'Clocksmith' Smith clinched his first chess title on Sunday at the 2002 Summer Open at the University of Technology. Smith walked away with the top prize in the Open Section after the number 1 seed National Master Duane Rowe lost in the last round to the number 4 seed Humphrey Gayle.

Smith ended the tournament as the only unbeaten player in the Open Section on 3½ points while Gayle and Rowe finished tied for second on 2½ points. Peter Myers and Sidley Matthews tied for 4th with 2 points each.

In the Amateur Section, Daren Wisdom followed up his dramatic win in the National Junior Championship earlier in the year, taking top honours with 3½ points. His main rival and top seed in the Amateur Section, Samuel 'Yoga Man' Lamount, finished tied for second on 3 points with National Women's Champion Keisha Ramator. In fourth place on 2½ points was Calabar's Ryan Blackwood.

Special awards were presented to Ramator for being the top female in the tournament and St. George's College student Raelando Knowles for being the top player under 14 .

The Summer Open is usually used as a warm up tournament for the National Championship events scheduled to begin on August 3, 2002.

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